Happy birthday Popeye!

The first appearance of Popeye (in Italy ‘Braccio di Ferro’) took place on January 17, 1929, in the comic strip ‘Thimble Theater’, later renamed ‘Popeye’, leaking from the mind of Elzie Crisler Segar. In 1933, the Max and Dave Fleischer’s Studios adapted the characters of ‘Thimble Theater’ for a series of animated feature short films, called ‘Popeye the Sailor’, for Paramount Pictures, which immediately became very popular; the Fleischer, and later the Famous Studios owned by Paramount, continued production until 1957, making over two hundred episodes. These short films are now owned by the Turner Entertainment, a Time Warner subsidiary, and distributed by Warner Bros. From 1978 to 1983, a series of cartoons was produced by Hanna-Barbera Production, ‘The New Adventures of Popeye’ (‘The All-NewPopeye Hour ‘); in 1987 another,’Popeye and Son’ (‘Che Papà Braccio di Ferro!’).Over the years the character has also appeared in books, cartoons for television, film (‘Popeye’, by Robert Altman, 1980, the debut of Robin Williams), video games, advertising campaigns, merchandising.In 2002, TV Guide ranked the character in the 20th place on his list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time; in 1995 it was one of the twenty comic series included in the commemorative series of US stamps ComicStrip Classics. In 2016, an animated film in computer graphics produced by Sony Pictures Animation should have been released, but director Dženndi Tartakovskij announced that the project had been canceled, even though a trailer had already been released.As everyone knows, Popeye – Braccio di Ferro is engaged with the gangling and lanky Olivia Oyl; has a foundling son, Swee ‘pea (in Italy’ Pisellino ‘), a biological son (Junior) and a greedy and awkward friend named J. Wellington Wimpy (Poldo Sbaffini), with very small and always closed eyes, constantly looking for burgers.Popeye knows that eating spinach makes stronger, and he does it every time he has to defend himself, his loved ones, Justice in general from Bluto (or Brutus).The American spinach growers dedicated a statue to Popeye, as a result of the increased demand for the product.Today we know for sure that spinaches are good for your health but, as for the iron, legumes, seafood, spices are to be preferred.